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Whisky ‘key’ to long life, says Britain’s oldest Olympian

Britain’s oldest living Olympian, Bill Lucas, has said enjoying a dram of whisky every day is the key to living a long life – as he celebrates his 100th birthday.

Whisky is key to a long life according to 100-year-old Bill Lucas

Lucas competed in the 5,000m race at the 1948 Wembley Olympic Games, according to the BBC, completing the distance in 14:30.6 during the heats – 20 seconds off the required time needed to qualify.

He credited an evening glass of whisky – and a glass of wine or sherry before lunch – as the secret to his long life.

The country’s oldest living Bomber Command pilot, Lucas cited RAF service during the Second World War as the barrier to him reaching the final.

He told the BBC: “I spent six years in the service and I had done very little training and I’d missed 1940 and 1944, where I might well have got a medal or something like that… but Hitler deprived me of those, so I went and bombed them instead.”

He celebrated the milestone occasion at a celebration organised by athletics club Belgrave Harriers – of which he has been a member for 81 years.

The club presented him with a 172-year-old bottle of Madeira at the party in London.

 

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